James Gurney

This daily weblog by Dinotopia creator James Gurney is for illustrators, plein-air painters, sketchers, comic artists, animators, art students, and writers. You'll find practical studio tips, insights into the making of the Dinotopia books, and first-hand reports from art schools and museums.

CG Art

Contact

or by email:gurneyjourney (at) gmail.comSorry, I can't give personal art advice or portfolio reviews. If you can, it's best to ask art questions in the blog comments.

Permissions

All images and text are copyright 2015 James Gurney and/or their respective owners. Dinotopia is a registered trademark of James Gurney. For use of text or images in traditional print media or for any commercial licensing rights, please email me for permission.

However, you can quote images or text without asking permission on your educational or non-commercial blog, website, or Facebook page as long as you give me credit and provide a link back. Students and teachers can also quote images or text for their non-commercial school activity. It's also OK to do an artistic copy of my paintings as a study exercise without asking permission.

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Talk about a cool elementary school teacher. This is Andy Wales, art teacher for the Lynch Bustin School. We had dinner with his family and I did this sketch of him between the pasta and the cheesecake courses.

Andy Wales showed me his art room, which has a rack of comics that students are free to browse. He did his masters thesis on the value of using comics in the classroom, not only to tell stories, but to explain all sorts of topics. One of his heroes is Scott McCloud, the author of Understanding Comics.

In preparation for my visit, the K-5 students made a plaster dinosaur, clay maquettes, and drawings of scenes with people and dinosaurs interacting.

One dinosaur, called a Fraction Dinosaur helps out with math concepts.

It's all in the book of etiquette.You should never make bodily noises at a table. If the queen enters your house you should bow and if your guest is an artist, you should serve him pasta and cheesecake.

But I'm glad that someone made a masters thesis on comics in the classroom. After all it cannot be stressed enough that children should be warned about the dangers of comics, like there are illiteracy, unhealthy appetite for matters of indecency and even blindness and famine.

Funny story: We had a great visit the night before. Here is this reknowned artist visiting us. I said, "Hey, do you want to have a quick tour of my school?" He says yes, I put shoes on, get them all tied. Stand up. "You ready?"

He replies, "You know, this is very funny, but you're wearing my shoes."

They looked just like mine and fit well! I gave him back his shoes and we left. But, at least I can say, I know what's like to be in his shoes!

I try to provide anything kid-friendly I can find. Marvel and DC both have a line for kids, and the Archie comics have always been good. I have a link on my blog of which comics I think are best and for which grade level:

I teach elementary school art in Asheville, NC. Besides a shelf of graphic novels my room has a box of beat to heck comics. Any time my kids finish early (and I've checked their work) they can either "free draw", "take a slip" (strips of paper with quick art questions to be answered)or read a comic. I've also helped our media specialist choose graphic novels for the library. After her initial hesitation she was embraced the notion, and even given me a budget for choosing appropriate graphic novels for the school. James